Opportunities

1. Several months ago Alex sold his Rickenbacker, bought a bass, and made an important contact. The front man of a Chicago band called Van Go has been in email contact with Alex about a number of shows Van Go is playing in the Chicago area for which Saturday Realism might be the opening act. These guys are professional, and I might be speaking too soon, but it's really a fabulous opportunity, even if we don't have professional aspirations.

2. Last Friday Ashleigh and I attended what I thought was going to be an "Indie Rock" show. This label actually turned a number of my friends away from this event, and it's a damn shame because what we ended up hearing was really curious and unexpected.

We came about halfway through the first act, a tall man dressed in a hospital gown, playing guitar and constructing percussion and accompaniment on a drum machine nearby. If his voice had been stronger and less flat all the time, it would have been sonically pleasing, whereas it ended up being more of a curiosity.

The second guy sat on his amp, which is always a nice touch, and played an acoustic guitar with the low E string tuned to B. Holy Cow. He really knew how to take advantage of ringing open strings. His vocals were very abrasive but earnest at the same time; hailing from Brooklyn, he sang about gentrification and the need for smaller pocket communities to survive within the cities.

The last act came on, a duet of guitar and viola. The guitarist had some impressive tapping skills, but the viola player seemed to have trouble playing notes without making an intrusive squeaking sound. Their vocals reminded me of the manic singing done by Modest Mouse as well as the trance-like chants of Animal Collective. At some point Ashleigh and I both started closing our eyes because the cadences in every song were similar, but you don't have to interpret that as a criticism: it's music you have to be alert for.

Anyway, the point of all this is that the show took place in a side room of Experimental Station, an experimental community of one building on Chicago's South Side (61st and Blackstone) containing a rooftop garden, a not-for-profit bike shop, an artist's studio, offices for a social justice institute, a food-purchasing collective, and now, a free community music venue.

The advantage it has as a venue over other places is that nothing else is happening--no coffee machines, no beer taps, no televisions--to distract from the music, and the space allows for a pretty intimate musical experience. Not everybody wants or needs this, but the Hyde Park music scene, which has been seeing some of its better days recently if you ask me, could really benefit from a space like this.

I spoke to the guy who organized the event, and he basically said that if I could get some acts together, the space was ours. So - I make a call to any and all musicians in Hyde Park - if you want a chill place to play, get in touch with me: saturdayrealism@gmail.com. Best of luck.